When reading The Game of School, I often reflected on my own high school experience. The author of "Passionate Teaching" lays out indicators of the Game of School, which include students asking questions about reading assignments based off only the first page or asking questions so wild that the teacher knows did not come from the reading at all. Thinking back, I realize that not only I myself, but my teachers were participating in the game of school. I became well aware of the expectations of my teachers and did just that. I was under the assumption that the grade received at the end of the year defined what type of students I was. And honestly, it did. I received mostly As, but how many of those As did I really deserve? I've always wanted to learn and be a deep learner, but my teachers taught in a strategic way that made it near impossible to be anything more.
Looking back on how I viewed high school and grades, I realize that this is not true. Higher grades do not mean you are any smarter, it just meant you knew how to take tests. Majority of my high school career, the SATs was a main topic of discussion. We always spent some advisory days out of the year to focus on SAT preparation, and in later years, every advisory class became a SAT prep class. Typically, students in my school used advisory as a free period to get other work done, however, I used advisory to get advice from my teacher. Due to their being no time for that anymore, I feel as though my relationship with my advisory teacher suffered my junior and senior year. And until today, I have always thought she changed and lost interest, but now realize that she was just another pawn in the game of school.
The reading mentions how teachers do not do what they can do to help us better our learning. I do agree that teachers sometimes get stuck in the routine of being told what to teach and focusing their whole lesson plans on that, however, I think more responsibility should be on the students. I thoroughly believe that when students start to publicly stick up for their education and explain how they feel, a change will happen and they will be heard. It's easy to have a debate among adults about the needs of students, but what would happen if you brought actual students into the debate? I think then is when we will see improvement in the American Educational system.
In the reading there are both negative and positive impacts today's school system makes. Clearly, there is an issue with the way of learning, but no one seems to honestly approach the topic. Everyone seems to know there is a problem but doesn't quite know what to do. I believe that when the voice of the students is heard, we will change the future of learning.
When reading The Game of School, I often reflected on my own high school experience. The author of "Passionate Teaching" lays out indicators of the Game of School, which include students asking questions about reading assignments based off only the first page or asking questions so wild that the teacher knows did not come from the reading at all. Thinking back, I realize that not only I myself, but my teachers were participating in the game of school. I became well aware of the expectations of my teachers and did just that. I was under the assumption that the grade received at the end of the year defined what type of students I was. And honestly, it did. I received mostly As, but how many of those As did I really deserve? I've always wanted to learn and be a deep learner, but my teachers taught in a strategic way that made it near impossible to be anything more.
Looking back on how I viewed high school and grades, I realize that this is not true. Higher grades do not mean you are any smarter, it just meant you knew how to take tests. Majority of my high school career, the SATs was a main topic of discussion. We always spent some advisory days out of the year to focus on SAT preparation, and in later years, every advisory class became a SAT prep class. Typically, students in my school used advisory as a free period to get other work done, however, I used advisory to get advice from my teacher. Due to their being no time for that anymore, I feel as though my relationship with my advisory teacher suffered my junior and senior year. And until today, I have always thought she changed and lost interest, but now realize that she was just another pawn in the game of school.
The reading mentions how teachers do not do what they can do to help us better our learning. I do agree that teachers sometimes get stuck in the routine of being told what to teach and focusing their whole lesson plans on that, however, I think more responsibility should be on the students. I thoroughly believe that when students start to publicly stick up for their education and explain how they feel, a change will happen and they will be heard. It's easy to have a debate among adults about the needs of students, but what would happen if you brought actual students into the debate? I think then is when we will see improvement in the American Educational system.
In the reading there are both negative and positive impacts today's school system makes. Clearly, there is an issue with the way of learning, but no one seems to honestly approach the topic. Everyone seems to know there is a problem but doesn't quite know what to do. I believe that when the voice of the students is heard, we will change the future of learning.